Obama to Call for Better Graduation Rates (60% of Americans to get college degrees)

New York Times ^ | August 9, 2010 | SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

[reaganaut1]

President Obama on Monday will renew his call for the United States to lead the world in college graduation rates by 2020, an ambitious goal that senior administration officials say will require 60 percent of all young Americans to possess a college degree, up from 40 percent today.

The United States gave up its spot as the world leader in college graduation rates about 10 years ago, as students in countries like South Korea, Canada and Russia began to surpass their American counterparts. Now the United States ranks 12th among 36 developed nations; a report by the College Board last month warned that the gap threatens to undermine American competitiveness.

Mr. Obama, who shares that view, used his State of the Union address in January to call for the United States to resume its spot as the world leader in graduation rates. He will travel to Austin, Texas, on Monday to reiterate his education plan in a speech at the University of Texas there.

“We’re flatlined, where other countries have passed us by,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Sunday, during a conference call with reporters to preview the president’s remarks. Mr. Duncan called the 2010 goal “the North Star for all our educational efforts.”

Mr. Obama’s trip to Texas will pair policy with politics; before delivering his education speech, he will headline a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee in Austin. After the speech, he will make a quick trip to Dallas to raise money for Democratic Senate candidates.

And the speech itself will have a political edge; advisers to Mr. Obama say he will use it to remind Americans that, with just a few exceptions, Republicans voted overwhelmingly against legislation adopted by Congress earlier this year to revamp the student loan program

[Think free or die]

"Take me for instance. I left High School, in the 10th grade, after being asked to write one more paper about something I had done in past grades."

Interesting. I remember my disgust with my idiot 9th grade biology teacher, who was more interested in his coaching assignment than in biology. I suspected that he didn't read what we turned in, so I started putting nursery rhymes in the middle of my assignments to see if he'd notice. He never did. I continued to do my work, since I liked biology, but I knew at that point that he was just a babysitter. My kids have had quite a few such dolts as "teachers" over the years. The most damaging ones are math teachers who don't teach.

I'm glad that our sons want to study engineering, since they have a hope of learning useful skills and avoiding some of the liberal claptrap. The pendulum can't swing back soon enough on this dumbed-down garbage.

[Think free or die]

"I have to wonder how popular a “pay $40,000 now and be exempt from income, payroll, estate, property, social security and medicare taxes for the rest of your life”-program would be."

Given the level of trust in the government to keep their promises . . . probably not very popular.

[tanknetter]

I remember my disgust with my idiot 9th grade biology teacher, who was more interested in his coaching assignment than in biology. I suspected that he didn't read what we turned in, so I started putting nursery rhymes in the middle of my assignments to see if he'd notice. He never did.

I had the Jesuits in high school, so I didn't have that problem.

HOWEVER ... my second year in undergrad I was under a time crunch for end of semester work. For one term paper assignment I just pulled a paper I did my junior year of high school, dusted it off, retyped and updated some information and turned it in (actually citing my "earlier" paper in both the preface and the bibliography to keep it legit) ... and got a significanty better grade.